Village Green golf course to be developed into housing

WEST BRADENTON -- A long-defunct golf course that has provided only a weedy view for homeowners who purchased on its edges years ago will soon be the site of Bradenton's newest adult community.

Sarasota developers Marshall Gobuty and David Koral have announced they will break ground on a 160-home community on the former Village Green golf course in January. Purchased by Gobuty's company, LagoInvest, for $5 million in 2005, the course has lain fallow and unused for a decade.

Linda Gross, a spokeswoman for the developers, said the development will be made up of attached villas. The first models are slated to open sometime in the first quarter of 2015.

The development is a bit of a mixed bag for the Village Green community built around the course in the 1970s and 1980s. Stephen Mapes, president of the Village Green Homeowners Association, said owners of the 1,001 homes around the course have long wanted someone to revitalize the old, 42-acre executive-length golf course.

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While many would have liked to have seen the course return to playable shape, Mapes said a viable housing development is the next best thing.

"We'd like to have it finished," he said. "We're tired of the weeds and the coyotes."

Located at 1401 Village Green Parkway, the project site is just blocks east of Palma Sola Bay. According to a press release issued Monday, Mirabella will include an amenity center featuring a pool, fitness center and movie theater.

A site plan for the development published on the homeowners association website shows the development will be centered on a traffic roundabout and arranged along a main road and five streets ending on cul-de-sacs. The homes would back up against the backyards of 240 existing Village Green homes.

The Mirabella homes will be marketed to "active adults," Gross said. Models will include two or three bedrooms and will be touted as "energy efficient." No pricing information was available.

When the development is finished, it will pay dues to the homeowners association to compensate it for maintaining common spaces.

Erosion control fences have been erected at the development site, Mapes said. According to Monday's press release, a Mirabella sales center will open in the next few weeks.

LagoInvest's website states the company has completed housing developments in several nations, including Thailand, Hong Kong and Germany. The company also owns 24 acres on the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers, according to the website.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027, or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.